Tokyo is Too Crowded

Staying in Singapore has sensitized me to crowds.

Singapore can be so empty compared to New York, and New York is a rural village compared to Tokyo at its full bustle. I've always known that part of the reason the Japanese seem so repressed to the outside world is that the intense overcrowding means having to retreat into oneself if one is to have any personal space at all.

It never affected me when I was inbound from New York, being used to the subway six inches, where you create your own personal space by glowering at everyone who invades it. But coming back from Singapore, it feels a lot weirder being crammed in an elevator so packed that you can't wear your backpack. No wonder everyone carries shoulder bags here.

Today I think it came to a head; when I was searching for dinner, I was just dying -- dying! -- for a restaurant that wasn't packed knee-to-knee, where I could get a table to myself and eat while reading a book and not feel like I needed to rush out because two thousand other people were waiting for my seat. So I found it in a Chinese restaurant. More about that later.

I suppose this is a consequence of actually having a social life again in Singapore such that I'm no longer used to being tucked away in a corner of myself but still...

It grows tiring and I will not pretend that I am not looking forward to my return to Singapore.